1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an insect-proof animal feeder having a water dish and a food dish assembly which provides stability and minimizes contamination of the water dish by food particles dropping into the water when the animal is eating.
2. Description of the Related Art
A common problem with feeding an animal using a food dish placed on the ground is that crawling insects, such as ants, can crawl into the dish, thereby rendering the food unsanitary and inedible for the pet. One solution to this problem is to place the food dish into a water dish, thereby creating a water barrier which prevents any crawling insects from entering the food dish; however, this arrangement introduces problems of its own. A feeding animal will inevitably drop food particles into the water dish, and interject water into the food dish. Although this basic arrangement of the food and water dishes creates some problems of its own, animal feeder designers still recognize the practicality of using a basic component of an animal feeder, a water dish, to prevent crawling insects from entering the food dish. Thus, in order to improve on this basic concept, the earlier animal feeders sought to provide an apparatus which prevented insects from crawling into the food dish and provided some degree of separation between the food dish and the water dish.
A variety of feeder devices have utilized the water dish in an effort to provide an insect-proof animal feeder. The prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,080, entitled "Animal Feeder," granted Dec. 3, 1978, which discloses attaching the base of a vertical support column to the center of the bottom of a water dish. This support column provides support for a food dish suspended above the water dish. This arrangement eliminates the crawling insect problem because the insects cannot crawl from the ground into the food dish without traversing the water barrier. Also, the food remains dry in the food dish situated above the bowl; however, this arrangement does not solve the problem of food particles dropping into the water from the food dish above when the animal is eating the food.
An animal feeder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,772, entitled "Animal Feeder," granted Aug. 23, 1983, discloses a lateral support means which extends from the top of the vertical support column described above, thereby extending the food dish from a position over the water to a position away from the water where food particles do not directly drop into the water dish. However, such arrangement introduces an additional problem. The suspended food dish is positioned far from the center of mass of the feeder which is located near the center of the water dish. Thus, that animal feeder is subject to being tipped over by a feeding animal, especially when the water dish is not full. As shown in this disclosure, an arrangement which has multiple food bowls which are diametrically opposed might improve the balance of the animal feeder; however, this is an impractical way to increase stability of the feeder for two reasons. First, multiple food dishes are simply impractical for one animal. Second, the food dishes are still located far from the center of mass of the animal feeder, thereby, still falling short of creating a stable system.
Thus, an animal feeder is desired that prevents crawling insects from entering the food dish; prevents mixing of the water and the food and enhances stability such that a feeding animal cannot tip over the animal feeder.